In tech companies stock awards can more that double the amount you get paid every year. Often triple you base salary.

Dividends have a couple of other negatives. One is that if you reduce the dividend for any reason, people sell the stock. Also I believe if you pay a dividend it reduces the value of the company because it is removed from the company assets, which should reduce the price of stock (if you ignore all other factors influencing the stock price) Finally if the company buys back stock it can then issue it to staff as RSUs over 4 years to make “golden handcuffs” to retain the best players.

As a recipient of stock rewards as an employee they are not a great reward. Like company scrip the stock rewards to staff are a cheap way to reward staff costing the company pennies on the dollar. And every single one I've received the stock was non voting and diluted.

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Well the first step is to verify power is off, then check with a meter or detector, then the final step is to use the back of the hand.

(Not really a typical eli5 question, I'd say)

1. Because Uber/doordash show the tips to the drivers so they can decide if the trip is worth the delivery and drive for them

2. They won't because the pay they give out to drivers per delivery is barely enough and they expect customers to supplement it with a tip

IIRC, Uber Eats allows you to add a tip later on while doordash doesn't. So mostly customers are forced to tip beforehand instead of based on delivery drivers' quality and/or speed of delivery

However allowing the customer to change tips after delivery is opening another can of worms regarding "bait and switch" tipping

The solution is for Uber and doordash to properly pay their drivers and not expect customers to supplement their pay. But then deliveries will be more expensive and customers will likely pick up their orders themselves (at least for those who can), so lost revenue. This is not even mentioning how Uber and doordash don't technically employ their delivery drivers in most areas where they are operating, thereby getting away with measley "pay" with no benefits

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Eh. I used to fly a lot around 2010, and they had two-pin headphones, but you could fold one pin down and use them as regular headphones. The remaining pin had two rings on it, so r worked oroprlt

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I don't know about you, but it might take a minute to realize a building is warm when I walk in, but instantly know when the shower is scalding hot.

Good lord I had completely forgotten those existed. I remember them being particularly awful on the flights I took when I was young. My friend, thank you so much for transporting me back to my youth for a moment, even if it was over some really awful technology.

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Probably because of oxytocin: the love hormone. Humans are social creatures and have reward circuits in the brain for social grooming. When we do nice things for each other, the brain releases oxytocin and it feels good. Think: a chimp picking bugs off of another chimp (also why having someone run their fingers through your hair feels so good). If you are being massaged (or groomed) by another individual, it means that you have been accepted by the group. For social animals, isolation = death.

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Share buybacks can be used for various purposes, and some of those purposes have more of an impact than others.

First - a company may buy back shares to replenish their employee stock remuneration pool. The total number of shares does not change, the value of the shares does not change significantly, and the employees eventually gain that benefit through share issues and discounted stock purchases. This is a valid and important way of cycling some of the companies cash-flow back to employees who gain stock benefits.

Second - a company may buy back shares to replenish or increase their management stock remuneration pool. This may or may not be positive for the company if this is used solely as a way to transfer company liquidity (cash) into the hands of management. This may also change the balance of control in the company from external investors to company management.

Third - a company may buy back stock and cancel the repurchased shares. This increases the value of the existing shares by the proportion of shares cancelled. Lets say the company has 50 million 1$ shares, and buys back 25 million shares and cancels them. The company has spent $25 million dollars, but the value of the remaining 25 million individual shares has increased significantly. They may not have doubled in value (due to the spent capital), but if the company is solid then that value will increase. This is seen as a quick way to again convert company cash into value for significant shareholders (both external investors and management). This approach may also be used to boost value of shares when the company is failing, allowing those in the know to cash out.

As you can see, only one of these approaches benefits company employees, and they do benefit management with significant stock holdings. The cash used for stock buybacks is no longer available for dividends to be paid to external investors - those investors must give up their investment to get a return. I addition, if the company only has significant liquidity due to support that has been provided for pandemic and other economic relief, then that cash being used to benefit management and investors as opposed to employees should be a cause for concern.

Few reasons: The company may not want to flood the market. This decreases the value of the stock. The company may not want its stocks to be bought by a competitor. The company believes the stock price will rise, so they buy the stocks back and sell them when the prices have gone up.

It may be common in certain fields, but on the whole, stock options are not what I would consider a common component of employee compensation, at least here in the US.

You did what?

Edit: You've blocked me. I get it. But truly, dousing doesn't work. Dig a hole, and you'll usually hit water. Yes, a douser can tell you "dig here", and lo and behold you'll hit water. You would also be likely to hit water if you dig the places where they don't tell you to dig.

Lots of partially correct bits mixed with incorrect bits and partial answers. Looking for an article on this might give you a clearer answer. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/02/041702.asp

Yes, we did.

Most offer residency only it seems, but Malta is selling citizenship, apparently

Americans abroad do get to vote in elections (state and federal).

Note that you only have to pay any federal income tax if you’re earning somewhere above $100,000/year and the taxes in your country of residence are lower than the federal taxes you’d owe, and then you have to pay the difference. So basically fairly well off expats on the Middle East. Almost everyone else is either not earning enough, or is paying more tax in their country of residence than they’d owe Uncle Sam so don’t have to cough up any extra.

There are other asinine things though - you still have to file your taxes, which is a massive PITA from overseas as none of the info you get from your employer is formatted for US taxes, and things like retirement funds are also subject to US taxes (again with the $100k/year threshold. Banking can also be a pain as the U.S. have massive reporting requirements for US account holders that a lot of overseas banks just don’t want to deal with so don’t accept US citizens as customers. Basically the US government views all its overseas citizens as though they’re billionaires trying to hide vast fortunes, rather than the mostly very ordinary folks that they are.

Usually the company proposes dividends and their board of directors approves it. From a purely process standpoint, most companies can turn dividends on or off at will (details depend on their exact corporate rules). In practice, investors generally expect dividends to be pretty even over long periods so companies don't like to mess with dividends...once you start doing them, or increase them, it's really hard to stop without a significant stock price hit.